the monday morning highlight reel is ready. what happened in cypress, could it happen here? >> i think right now, it's going to be overblown. i don't think it's going to get as people think. >> i know cypress is a small island, but the question is what's it mean ultimately big picture for many of the european nations? >> what breaks the cardinal's rule, and that is he wants public trust in the banking system. >> what happens when the banks open? is it he who gets there first gets the cash? >> we may find a way to get your money. >> apparently, they will embrace the principle because they, like the american congress, think they can write any law, regulate behavior, and change any law. stuart: we talked about the situation, and, by the way, when the market opened this morning, the dow dropped 105 points, come back a lot, now down 36. maybe, charles, liz, maybe the market thinks that the cypress story is overblown, will not

affect it, maybe not affect spain or italy artery. >> maybe not, you know, but certainly for people who have been really concerned with what's going on, with a government that buys 1.2 billion bullets, hires 16,000 new irs agents, a government that's spent a trillion more than they earn than brought in, it doesn't help. the people in this country who are afraid of losing their rights and liberty, it's scary. stuart: i want debt center stage, and it's not. >> it's not. it should be. it might be likely limited, but it shows there's nothing above political meddling. what used to be taboo is your deposits are safe from taxation. stuart: the time is up, butdagen, connell it's yours. connell: thank you, sir. dagen: if you bail out those depositors, why shouldn't they

have to pay something for the bailout? just asking. connell: whole hour to talk about it. connell: good morning, stuart and company told you the bad news from europe is back, and the $13 billion bailout in cypress. they want to pay for it by taxing people's bank accounts. dagen: the president will announce his no , nominee for s secretary. another looks at a man's record over at the justice department. connell: the cyber threats, a new report according to an isp, nigeria as being the worst for spam. dagen: the corporate tax burden in the country. who pays the most? those stories and much more coming up in hour on "markets now." ♪ connell: markets are going back

to positive. dagen: who has a greater connection than anyone in the building. connell: good morning, nicole. dagen: good morning, yes, my mother and father were born in cypress, but i want to look here at the averages, a lot stemming from what we heard in cypress, them giving a vote to tax the depositors there, and that, in turn, could really pressure europe overall, that vote takes place tomorrow. the banks closed until thursday. the euro is at a four month low, and people are spooked. i mean, that's really what's occurring here, down 45 points for the dow jones industrials, so that's down one-third of 1%, obviously, record after record, but snapped it friday. right now, the s&p at 1551. on the dow jones industrial average, hp doing well, and analysts called verizon, home depot, and they have up arrows. the worst performers are the

banks, jpmorgan and bank of america under pressure. back to you. dagen: thank you so much, nicole. you talk about flight to safety today. look at the yield on the ten-year treasury. that tells the whole story. yields down, back below 2%. 1.9%. people in treasuries nervous about vie press. is bob nervous? the head of fixed income management at vanguard managing more than $700 billion in bond and money markets assets. bob, thank you for taking the time. what has been the overall bond market reaction to what we are seeing between those european nations and cypress? >> caller: sure. in general, it's been fairly muted this morning. the first time, i think, the markets have refocused on an event risk, but that said, if you look at most u.s. financial companies, the large banks and the larger european banks, they

are only about five basis points wider in yield versus treasury. of course, the exception is the spanish, the italian banks, which are 30 basis points wider this morning. dagen: bob, do you think that that reaction should be bigger given what we're seeing, or is this an isolated incident, and to answer the bigger question, is this worth it for the european union to force a haircut on bank deposits? >> caller: no, i don't think it's worth it for them in the long run. that is the correct term to use, "a haircut," they refer to it as a tax, but it is not. it is a haircut. i think at the end of the day that the european union should have stepped up and given the -- give them the money. at the end of the day, they are concerned that the bank deposits were funded by russian capital and so forth, but do you want to put in the minds of spanish and

italian bank depositors in particular that they risk having their money haircut if one of their large banks get into trouble? you're going to have the mother of all bank runs if that thing starts, and i can tell you, the company that prints the euros for european central bank, they bet ere prepare to print truckloads of them and have them available to every branch to hand money back to people. that's the only way you stop a bank run. that's the part that bothers me. you know, we're watching for signs of a deposit run. we have not seen any, but it's early on in the process. dagen: what are the chances of like that happening in a major spanish or italian bank? >> caller: i think it's very low, but that said, they have been the banks that have been called into question, you know, relative to the other large banks out there, and, you know, we had to have them be helped by

the government, so, you know, the question is, you know, does this thing -- down the line, not today, but down the line, does something snowball in an italian or spanish bank or some bank we have not thought about? now the depositors remember that the haircut, particularly small depositors, especially nose below $100,000, and they are going to remember that, and they might run, and then you got a problem. dagen: quickly, bob, investors have been chasing yield, as, again, we've seen earlier this year, desperate because the treasury, the treasuries are yielding so little money. which of the bond classes has become dangerously overpriced at this point? >> caller: well, i could characterize the overprice. i don't know if i use the word "dangerously" as high yield right now. overall, it's up 3% over

treasuries with the really lowest of the junk, the junk of the junk, ccc's up 5.5% year to date. now, that said, high yield companies have been doing really well, able to refinance their debt, and perspective default rates are low right now, but i'm wondering if that market's starting to look pretty overheated. dagen: bob, great talking. thank you so much. i hope to see you very, very soon. >> caller: okay, good speaking with you. dagen: bob, take care. >> caller: thank you. con cop another big story, president obama will come out expected to nominate thomas perez, current u.s. assistant attorney general to take the place of the labor secretary. dagen: this could stir up controversy on capitol hill. joining us now with reaction is "wall street "wall street journal" editorial board member, jason. you get first dibs. connell: thank you very much for the floor. the controversy vowndz, --

surrounds, what, jason? an over active secretary? >> well, the record of justice, the obama administration is tooting the fact that he oversaw lending elements at the justice department, but not talking about the methods used in the cases. he used desperate impact, a way, basically, of using statistics to prove discrimination. if more blacks denied home loans than whites, that's automatically racial discrimination. more black kids sus pended rather than white kids, that's automatic racial discrimination. the facts don't matter, just the outcome. dagen: how could he apply that thinking in his job as labor secretary? what would be the impact there? >> well, the government can shame businesses. it can shame districts in terms of school district. government wields a lot of authority, and a lot of moral persuasion, and even the fact that you can bring attention to

certain situations or the threat of government action is enough sometimes, and the problem here is that if doesn't always have the intended effect. i mean, if you force banks to loan to people who can't afford to pay them back, these people will be saddled with foreclosed homes and poor credit ratings at the end of the day, not a benefit for those intended to be benefited by the policy. connell: the republicans put up a good fight for the other obama nominees. do they want to go down that road again? is it worth it? if so, why? >> chuck grassley, the senator from iowa, certainly thinks so. that's because not only does perez want to use the impact analysis, but he doesn't want the supreme court to rule on constitutionality. there was a case last year in st. paul, minnesota, a case pending before the supreme court, would have given the court a chance to take a shot at the desperate impact and whether or not it's constitutional, and there's some evidence that

justice got involved and persuaded the city to withdrawal the case. i think chuck grassley wants to ask about that, and i hope the senate delves in. dagen: could be an exciting confirmation process for a labor secretary. >> deservedly so. dagen: than seen in the past. what else should they ask about perez's background? >> well, it's -- i think he's emblematic of and administration thatments to use the rule of law selectively to help some people instead of others and use statistics selectively. for example, the same statistics that show blacks receive loans at lower rates than whites, show whites receive them lower than asians. no one accuses banks of antiwhite or show black banks deny blacks home loans at higher rates, and so you can't -- if you want to use statistics, you can't use them selectively, and there is a propensity to this administration to go down that

road. the hope the senate delves into that practice. connell: good start for the conversation, thank you, jason. dagen: come back soon. connell: another thing, individual americans are not the only ones feeling the tax pain this year. major u.s. corporations taking a hit as well. the information obtained by 24/7 wall street, reviewed corporate tax payments for the top 150 companies by revenue showing you in terms of the top companies paying the most in taxes last year. not surprised to see exxon-mobil at the top, chevron second at $20 billion, apple in third, but all of this week, if you want to take a moment to point out on "markets now," cheryl casone is taking on the big tax issues with a week long tax series called "tax pain" starting next hour, noon eastern time, on dagen: tax proposals could be the scaling back of the mortgage interest deduction.

oh, it's the holy grail. will they touch it? connell: the cyber threat, a new study pin pointing the worse internet provider for spam, the worst of all. that's coming up in just a moment. like harry reid had anything to do with that. dagen: any cues to show harry reid. connell: should boost the ratings. down in the stock market today, but not like earlier. in terms of oil, 93.19, down a little bit there. more "markets now" straight ahead. ♪ it's monday.

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connell: making money with charles payne at this hour of the day. dagen: looking at computer

storage data management company, net app. what do you think? >> you know, the technology stocks have been somewhat watching this whole thing, so i'm trying to find some of the tech names that look like they've got good risk-reward ratios. i like this a lot. string of earnings beats, they do good there. fiscal year 13-14, the streaks setting up their consensus a little bit, barclay's positive on it, and this morning i heard positive from pacific crest. the cloud, virtualization, enterprise, all of that stuff, a name around a long time. technically a major breakout, $36.60. i like it short term and long term. i think technology might get traction here, especially as money rotates out of the bigger winners. connell: you don't -- you don't have a bank account in cypress, do you? >> i already called. it's too late. just joking, but it is tough. they'll revamp that thing, but if you're scared of government

overreach in the world is more frat this morning. connell: might be the point. we'll see if we get the updates. they are supposed to close the banks. dagen: you'll have to wait and see if countries really worry about it or, like, cypress. >> putin called it dangerous. dagen: they harry harbor money h russians. >> 70 billion in the bank, and something funny's going on there. dagen: hold your nose while on the beach. docks now and every -- well, nicole is following the markets for us from the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> all right. we've seen the vix, the fear index, volatility anticipation, obviously, jumping in a big way. at the open, it was higher, but it's pulled back some. however, up 14% right now. obviously, that is something to have worth talking about because we talk about the fear and nervousness in the market because of what we're hearing

about cypress and potential of them taxing depositors, people who saved money, worked hard for the money, people harboring money, either way, the money's in the bank, supposed to be a safe place where you are expecting to get the money out. what you put in, you expect it to be safe and you can get it out. the spring jilters in the market, and the market is hit hard, bank of america, and jpmorgan down. dow down 34 points, back to you. dagen: thank you. connell: the cyber threat, the worth internet provider when it comes to spam, spam for more than 60% of the web addresses. a big deal. telling you about that coming up next. dagen: the president's choice for the next labor secretary. hear more about thomas perez from the president himself coming up. take a look at world currencies, how they hold up against the dollar. that's right. euro's headed higher. ♪ all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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dagen: seeing a little bit of selling on this controversial plan pushed by the european union on cypress.

basically, they are trying to force the depositors in the cypress banks to take a haircut. connell: bringing phil orlando in, chief equity strategist at fed rated. you woke up to morning, and charles payne brought it up, by they restructure it, closing the banks, and when you saw it, were you like, who cares, or is it a big deal? >> there's conflicting issues here. on the one hand, this is not a big deal issue is that cypress accounts for two-tenths of gdp. it's not like germany, france, or italy going away. the other side of the coin is significant, that if you dig into the details of the plan, they -- even insured depositors will be taxed at 6.75%, violating the rule of law. if they force this on smaller depositors who are supposed to be fully insured, can they do this in other countries in other

situations? connell: may not even do it in that country. >> so you may have a legislative appeal here or, you know, a court appeal, which overturns what has been talked about, but that's, initially, the knee jerk concerns markets have. dagen: why is it a bad thing to force depositors in the banks that europe is saving to foot some of the bill for the bailouts; right? again, we're giving you money, and these banks would, some of them would go under if not for our money, so just chip in the money, and that's that. >> they would. the two larger banks in cypress would be under unless they get the 10 billion euro short fall, but the problem is while depositors, shareholders, bondholders should contribute, you violate the rule of law because under a hundred thousand euros, you are supposed to be made whole. that's -- where do you draw the line? dagen: let them go then? why wouldn't europe let them go, okay, have at it in >> that's

the too big to fail issue. there's a situation in cypress where they have approximately 70 billion euros on deposit in the banking system. the total side of the economy is about 18 billion euros, so the banking industry is four times the size of the economy. if you allow the banks to fail, much like letting citibank or jpmorgan here in the united states, that would have significant repercussion the in the economy. connell: where do you stand on the idea of the con cement spreading? could it happen in other countries was the question asked, it seemed like, in the markets this morning if it goes through on cypress, on to the next guy and next who have problems? >> that's a legitimate concern that the architect or one of the principle architects here, the imf, the ecb, and the european union and germany with a strong hand there. if they force this upon one country, who is to say they

couldn't force it upon a larger, more important country? if europe were able to execute a plan like that, who is to say that the united states wouldn't look and say, well, they did it in europe, why couldn't we look here? connell: rule of law question; right? >> exactly. dagen: what's the solution? somewhere between forcing the haircut and letting banks fail? where is the middle ground that would not make investors? >> you got to have the smaller depositors, the hundred thousand euro depositors made whole because that's the large. the haircut has to be the foreign depositors, shareholders, bondholders, that's where the pain needs to come. contribution coming from -- sustain pain among the larger depositors and that's where the -- the pound of flesh, if you will, needs to come from. the russians, i believe, have two-thirds of the foreign deposits within the country, and

i think that's why putin came out with some, you know, pretty ugly comments this morning in terms of his reaction to at least the initial plan. connell: all right, phil, thank you very much. dagen: be well, great insight. connell: latest on the cyber threat which we have to talk about seems like every day. new data shows a nigeria company is identified as the world's most crime riddled internet service provider, worst in the world for crime. the research done by a firm in the netherlands reported by the "wall street journal" shows out of 42,000isps in the study, nigeria's spectranet for crime, the hosts were found to send out spam. wow, that's a lot. the study done by information technology in the netherlands. not a nigerian prince after all. that was my guess. dagen: that mortgage interest deduction you love, what if it

went away? don't think that it's not possible. connell: talking about that coming up, and then the news of the hour, waiting for the president, the if president's nw man for the job. you're looking at it. can he spur job growth? we'll get the announcement from washington, but, first, back to the markets to look at the individual winners we're seeing. markets down overall, but the these stocks are up on the s&p. ♪ thank you orville and wilbur... ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind...

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connell: pretty much any moment now, president obama is expected to nominate thomas peres as his

new secretary. we'll talk about it. that mortgage reduction many of you have been using could be a thing of the past and apple on the offensive now, paying some big bucks for a new ad campaign for the iphone. all those stories coming up. dagen: and we want to go to stocks now. nicole is at the new york stock exchange with a live look at some financials taking a hit. >> that's right. take a look at these financials on a day where they're coming under significant pressure. market opens to the down side this morning, down about 100 points and while it's recovering some, the financials certainly are under pressure here. you're seeing citigroup down 2% here at home, storage bank abroad down 4% and national bank of greece could be an all-time low but you can see the dow is still under pressure. i'm seeing headlines crossing about the whole idea is that in cypress, they want to tax those deposits at different rates depending upon how much you have in the bank but is it fair?

is it legal? is it okay? and so i just saw a headline crossing that some say about the e.u. that it is legal to instill this tax levy and so the votes tomorrow and of course, the banks are closed until thursday. back to you. connell: to follow up what she's talking about, european markets are closing for day at this hour and we'll show them to you. london market top of the screen, financial times down by one half of 1%. so down more than our markets but still not a huge decline for any of the three major indices. dagen: it was a reaction in the markets but you have to be careful, step back and not call it a dramatic selloff or, you know, a blood letting or anything like that. dow is down 36 points for pete's sake. dagen: rich is standing by at

the white house with more. rich? >> this announcement scheduled for inside the white house. it's about 10 minutes from now. thomas perez, president obama's choice to lead the department of labor. he comes directly from the department of justice where he's the head of the civil rights division, the division responsible for enforcing federal discrimination statutes. white house officials point to the fact that he helped settle the three largest fair lending cases in the department history as some of the reasons why he should be the head over at labor. however, republicans are pointing to a report issued by the department of justice's i.g. last week, the inspector general that basically said that division that perez leads is still in two camps. they're examples of harassment, inappropriate personnel attacks and the i.g.'s report basically found all those issues predate president obama's tenure in office. however, they really haven't been addressed to the satisfaction of the i.g., inspector general, thus far. mr. perez says he's worked with the department, that there have

been improvements since he's taken office there but a number of republicans are pointing to this, especially senator grassley saying that mr. perez is woefully unprepared to answer questions about this. remember, the nomination is subject to a senate confirmation. back to you. connell: and you'll see it here live. thank you. dagen: lawmakers have their eyes on the mortgage interest deduction again. the housing industry is pushing to keep the deduction in place. connell: let's move to peter barns with the details on that. >> public interest group is backing legislation today to limit the size of a mortgage that could qualify for the mortgage interest deduction. this bill comes from congressman keith ellison from minnesota. right now you can deduct the interest on mortgages up to a million in for instance pal. his legislation would cut that to $500,000 and you could not deduct the interest on the

amount above that. the popular mortgage interest deduction is in the cross hairs as washington wrestles with tax reform and the budget. right now homeowners deduct $100 billion in interest payments each year on their mortgages. proposals from the obama administration and some in congress would reduce that by capping itemized deductions, particularly for wealthier families by reducing the size of a mortgage eligible for the deduction like congressman ellison's legislation would do or eliminating the deduction for mortgages on second homes as the housing market continues a fragile recovery, trade groups are fighting back. >> the mortgage interest deduction is the biggest incentive for americans' largest wealth generator and that's their home. we don't think it should be touched. however, everything is on the table when it comes to tax reform. >> home builders, realtors and mortgage lenders are expected to ramp up their lobbying efforts

even mores on this debate continues in washington but some officials are bracing for some limits on the mortgage interest deduction. dagen: thank you, peter. connell: you'll here about this coming up. more and more people dipping into retirement plans to make ends meet. dagen: and apple is rolling out new advertisements for the iphone and take a look at how the treasury market is doing today because again, you see any fear at all, investors are still buying treasuries and that's what's going on today. 1.95% is the yield on the 10-year. look, if you have copd like me,

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>> i have your fox business brief. goldman sachs will have to answer accusations it provided false and misleading information about the securities during the financial crisis. the report turning back an appeals to a class-action lawsuit against the financial giant by institutional investors. the twinkie will ride again. acting c.e.o. hostess brands speaking ing oing on varney a

this morning. >> we've put in approximately $700 million to get this business up and running in indeed we do feel very confident that these brands have a great place with the american consumer. we want to certainly bring them back and innovate them and make them more relevant going forward so yes, we're quite optimistic. >> that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

dagen: borrowing from the 401k plan. nearly one in three employees say they took a hardship loan from the 401k last year that's up from one in four back in 2011. so what's causing this? according to financial finesse, lower income and younger workers need the money despite the improving job market. hardship loans, they must be paid back to your retirement

account if you leave your employer and you have to essentially pay yourself interest but we should note there was a recent bank of america, merrill lynch study that said 401k loan transactions, new ones, they were down 5% from a year ago and total hardship and in-service withdrawals were also down nearly 8% and this just came out earlier this month. connell: competing studies. dagen: people always discourage taking a loan from the 401k plan. if you owe money and you're paying yourself interest and yes, you have to pay the money back if you ever leave the company where you work but better to borrow from yourself than a relative or a bank where you're not paying yourself interest. connell: if you absolutely have to. dagen: but how about down payment on the house? there you go. borrow it from yourself. rhonda over here, one of our camera operators is giving me the thumbs up. connell: in that case, i'm all for it. let's go to apple for a moment.

they may be starting to get nervous with samsung launching the galaxy last week. don: here is more on this. >> we're seeing a new side of apple. they're on the defensive as more and more criticisms and comparison come in after that launch of that new samsung galaxy 4 that we talked about extensively on friday. they've updated the website over the weekend, not too aim specifically at one device, just all the competition out there. apple updating the website with a new brag sheet about all the features that the iphone has that others don't. there's the iphone and then there's everything else. some of the things that it is touting, it's j.d. power and associates award, the aluminum case, great battery life without a great big battery itself. it's directing an arrow right at the samsung galaxy four that i mentioned came out last week and some features that it has, it has a plastic, not aluminum

casing, a big battery life and a big battery at that. no retina display but many features that the galaxy phone has that the iphone doesn't, including a higher resolution display, five inch screen, smart control that allows yyu to tilt without using your fingers to go up and down a webpage. 10 million units are expected to be sold in the first month when it comes out next month but i guess apple feeling the need to kind of flex its muscles a little bit. it's a new era for apple with all things we haven't seen before out of that company. connell: it's interesting. thank you. she's in the news room. dagen: it's no laughing matter. it's lost a quarter of value so far this year. more on stocks. stocks now from nicole live on the floor of the new york stock exchange with more movers today. >> i am taking a look here at some names on the move because

some analysts called it. fear index is jumping big time and the markets are pulling back. here's a look. looking at advanced micro advances not on the move at the moment but it was upgraded and it has a 330 price chart. best buy, j.p. morgan talking positively about best bay, up 2 1/2%. i know we had talked about the founder made china give it a go and take it private. that didn't come through but they did have a good last quarter. anheuser-busch also higher. jeffries is $115 target. hugh bet packard upgraded and j.c. penney has the option of isolating top 300 locations and then converting them to a re-like entity. that's why you see the stock up. connell: we're waiting for the president. he's set to nominate a new labor secretary as you look live at

the white house. when he comes out, you'll see it here live. dagen: and then the advertising game with the ncaa tournament coming up. how cbs and tbs are making more money than you can imagine. how much more, we're going to tell you all about it. connell: then some winners today at the nasdaq. the market pulls back a little bit but a lot of that nicole was talking about, individual stocks are doing well. we'll be right back with the president and some basketball and a bunch of other things on "markets now." it's monday.

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>> give young people a chance to learn new skills, more returning vets to find a new job. they've looked out to construction sites, stood up for women's rights to get paid equally, for the work they do, they've done an extraordinary job fighting on behalf of working families across the board. and today i'm proud to nominate a leader to carry on those efforts as america's next secretary of labor, tom perez. [applause]

>> like so many americans, tom knows what it's like to climb the ladder of opportunity. he's the son of dominican immigrants, paid his way through college as a garbage collector and working at a warehouse, went on to become the first lawyer in his family so his story reminds us of this country's promise. if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is, you can make it if you try. and tom has made protecting that promise for everybody the cause of his life. as a civil rights attorney, an aide so senator kennedy, a member of the montgomery maryland county council, tom fought for a level playing field where hard work and responsibility and rewarded and working families can get ahead. this is not the first time he's chosen to be a labor secretary. we have today governor o'malley and martin appointed tom as secretary of maryland's

department of labor where he helped implement the country's first statewide living wage law because he understood a minimum wage should be a wage you live on and in his current role as head of the u.s. justice department civil rights division, tom has fought to open pathways in the work service for everyone willing to contribute, including people with disabilities, lgbt americans and immigrants and he's helped settle largest cases ever on behalf of families targeted by unfair mortgage lending. now, while he's tackled plenty of tough issues, tom has also spent a career as a consensus builder. he's works with ceo's, labor leaders, he's worked at federal, state and local government levels and throughout, he understands that our economy works best when the middle class and those working to get into the middle class have the security they need on the job, a democratic voice in the workplace, everybody playing by the same set of rules.

tom's knowledge and experience will make him an outstanding secretary of labor. and there's plenty of work to do. we're going to have to work very hard to make sure that folks find jobs with good wages and good benefits. we have to make sure our veterans returning home from iraq and afghanistan have a chance to put their incredible skills and leadership to work at home. we need to build an immigration system that works for every employee and every family and every business. i'm confident that tom is going to be able to work to promote economic growth but also make sure that that growth is broad based. and he's going to be an integral part of our overall economic team. these are just a few challenges that working families out there are facing and where they need an advocate and tom is the right person for that job so i hope the senate will act swiftly to confirm tom so we can work together to address all of these concerns. i want to thank not only tom but

his wonderful family for agree to go take on the new role. i just heard that tom has been coaching basketball and baseball. he doesn't claim to be a great coach but he brings passion to it. he may end up missing a few of the games over the next several months but it will be for a good cause and i appreciate his family being willing to make those sacrifices as well. with that, i would like to introduce our nominee to be our next secretary of labor and give him a chance to say a few words and i would urge the senate to confirm him as quickly as possible. mr. tom perez. [applause] >> thank you. thank you.

thank you very much. thank you, mr. president, for your confidence in me. it is a remarkably humbling and exciting phenomenon to be here today. my parents taught my four siblings and me to work hard, to give back to our community and to make sure that the ladder of opportunity was there for those coming after us. over my career, i've learned that true progress is possible if you keep an open mind, listen to all sides and focus on results. i look forward to taking these lessons with me if confirmed to my new role as secretary of the department of labor. as you well know, our nation still faces critical economic challenges and the department's mission is as important as ever. i'm confident that together with

our partners and organized labor, the business community, grass roots communities, republicans, democrats and independents alike, we can keep making progress for all working families. in the coming weeks, as the confirmation process unfolds, i look forward to meeting with senators of both parties to discuss the labor department's key role, protecting and degreeing the middle class. i'll close again, mr. president, by thanking you once again for this tremendous opportunity. i look forward to this opportunity to continue serving our nation. thank you so much. [applause] dagen: we've been listening to president obama for his new pick to take over the secretary of labor, thomas perez.

mr. president giving him an opportunity to speak to the spanish speaking americans across the country to see what he wants to do for labor. confirmation process does need to happen but the labor department at a crucial time with unemployment at 7.7% and of course, immigration issue is a big piece of the puzzle but that's going to affect the labor department as well. i am cheryl taking over for the next hour of fox business and markets now. next guest says the nomination of thomas perez shows that the president has no interest in working with the private sector to create the extremely and crucial jobs for this economy. ed rogers is a former deputy assistant to the first president bush and welcome. >> good to be here. cheryl: this was planned by the white house and mr. president to show the spanish speaking population of this country that he cares about this issue. this has got to point to the immigration debate encompassing

washington right now. your thoughts. >> well, what does america need more than anything else? it needs robust economic growth and aggressive job creation. there's nothing about his background that would suggest he can make much of an intellectual or intelligent decision in the job market. i think he shows us that he speaks spanish but he spent a career either in government or as a civil rights lawyer or as an academic and nothing about his background suggests that he has ever hired anyone, that he's ever worked in the private sector where the jobs are going to come from so perhaps he's been put in the cabinet for some periphery refasons but it's a disappointment that the labor secretary obviously isn't part

of an economic team that is charged with economic growth. cheryl: can you be more specific with the holes in his resume? >> yes. well, he's coming from the justice department where he was head of civil rights and that would suggest he's probably better suited as a regulator. he's in the business of handling grievances. if he takes that experience to the labor department, what's he going to do? he's going to be inclined to listen to grievances that people have about the private sector or the union allies that were the first he mentioned. he said republicans but he pointed out our allies in the union. is the labor department just there to be a giant complaint management department for the labor unions? cheryl: but you don't think that he's not going to take the stance -- and i'm sorry but this is what i kind of saw when he was at the white house just now

and speaking, he's not going to try to bring down the unemployment rate in the nation by bringing in and giving temporary visas, if you will, to migrant workers to fill the lower wage job that many say they have trouble filling. it benefits him and benefits the president. >> it would ring true and i don't know what kind of charge or mandate he's gotten from the white house and whether or not the labor department is in a position by fiat to waf some visa requirements and get some workers and the skilled workers in here we need to do specific jobs. so what role he'll play overall in an immigration reform initiative in that context remains to be seen but again, you would think the ground zero, the bull's eye of the problem in america is job growth and you want your labor secretary to be part of your economic team. he seems to be more better suited to be part of a

regulatory regime rather than an economic team. cheryl: thank you very much for joining me for the breaking news as we see the president nominate once again thomas perez to be the secretary of labor. we'll see how the confirmation process goes as well. ed, thank you very much. >> thank you. cheryl: we're on the top of the hour and as we do every 15 minutes here on "markets now" we'll do stocks now. market is bouncing back after early morning profit taking. all of the concerns over the cyprus controversial bank tax. >> when you talk about the fact that people put money in the bank and that's supposed to be the safest place, you trust your bank, you trust your bankers, you expect to get out what you put in there for safe keeping and this was not only the worry of the people in cyprus but also the worry of the entire euro zone. he said this marks the first term in the euro zone crisis

that depositors in the bank will lose money. they're basically saying they'll go in there and confiscate seaport securities used that word, going in there and saying we're going to tax the money in there. i know you saved it and put it away and we'll tax it. how much is in there will depend on how much the tax is. that brings jitters to this market. we've seen the financials under crisis. today here at home we've seen down arrows. bank of america down one third of 1%, but abroad you're seeing it more so, particularly in the euro zone. national bank of greece hit a new low so you're seeing a concern and tomorrow's vote and the banks in cyprus are closed until thursday. cheryl: we're watching the currency markets as well. thank you. of course, we're going to see you in 14 minutes and dow down almost 10 points right now. as nicole just mentioned, the news out of cyprus is sending

u.s. markets down. earlier the dow was much lower than it is right now. but we are recovering right now. liz is on the story and joins us with more what's happening in cypr cyprus. and we'll get some color on this just like old times. let's start with you and, you know, actually tax deposits in cyprus created a ripple effect that i don't think anyone expected. >> right. and news coming out now the banks may reopen thursday instead of tomorrow. italy tried this to a limited effect taxing deposits in 1992. it's called a solidarity levy by the e.c.b. now, j.p. morgan chase, the situation is very fluid. gold man sacks and j.m. morgan bank analysts like the idea. they think it's a good plan.

if you go back to renegotiate cyprus' bailout, the e.c.b. would not provide liquidity if it doesn't like a future plan now like what they've offered now. they've been studying the issue, the i.m.s. has been studying, e.u. has been studying it. the problem is cyprus banks are funded a lot by deposits, not by bonds so they couldn't do a hair cut to the bond holders there. this is the plan they came up with. the key here is that the e.c.b. signs off on any other plan if this one gets ditched, if the cyprus government rejects it. it has to be put to a vote in cyprus. >> also, as we look at what happened with asian markets overnight and the european markets as well, spanish bonds, italian bonds, those yields jumped on this news so really, the story is already spreading at least from an investment perspective. >> that was the fear overnight that immediately you would get runs on the banks in spain and italy and other countries as depositors there feared that this set a precedent and you

could get the same tax over there but as the day wore on, i think people are coming to the conclusion that this is cyprus specific because they don't have bonds. they have mostly depositors and so it is more specific to cyprus and cyprus is not that important and the feeling is somehow they'll work it out. i think what the markets are telling you today is that they can handle this. it is an interesting intellectual precedent, though. cheryl: a lot of russian, wealthy russians have money parked in cyprus banks so you've got, you know, folks in germany, spain, et cetera saying, wait a minute. this is a bailout for wealthy russians. >> if this bank deposit tax passes by the cyprus government, they would lose $2 billion to this tax. about a third of the deposits in cyprus are from foreigners so you can imagine they may see a lot of people pulling out money

on thursday. that's key. the e.c.b. stepping in with liquidity on thursday if there's another run because there was an a.t.m. run over the weekend. e.c.b. is so key here. e.c.b. providing liquidity so the banking system doesn't collapse in cyprus. cheryl: note this morning said that this shows us there is no plan in europe and that this region is still destabilized by bailout, no bailout, no plan. >> right. i think they've kept the system alive by flooding it with money and by rhetoric but the fundamental workout is going to take years. as u.s. economy has gotten better and we've negotiated our fiscal situation somewhat a little bit better, i think investors have come to the conclusion that there is a surprised risk that's going to hurt the financial markets that's not going to come out of washington. it's not going to come out of the united states. it's going to come from europe or something we don't expect and today was something that we didn't expect. so far the markets are handling it but this is a potential

problem. cheryl: we should take a look at the dollar and the euro. investors usually flood to the safety of the u.s. >> and also u.s. treshy breaking down. 10-year note down now. the key to watch is not just italy, spain, those yields as well. there's notes coming out of wall street that we've been tracking. if this is approved, you may see slight move in the basically spain and italian bonds but if it gets rejected, you could see wider spreads breaking out over those bonds because the fear is that if you go into renegotiate a bailout, what would that bailout look like? will the e.c.b. sign off on it? cheryl: you agree with her on that point. >> the issue is what that agreement would look like and what are the ramifications but other countries like spain and italy, the key here is to have a

firewall around sicyprus like w used to have a firewall around greece and a freezup in the financial system in europe. cheryl: we'll continue to watch a tiny island nation split and now the middle of a market story. good to see you together again. >> it's like old times. cheryl: it is. thank you very much. it is one of the reasons that you buy a home but now your mortgage interest deduction is in jeopardy of being a thing of the past. it's fate in the hands of our leaders on capitol hill. we have all the angles covered for you right now. david is the chief economist for the national association of home builders. he's here with me. peter is in washington and is covering the details of the story and why lawmakers are going after america's favorite deduction. >> hi. housing public interest group is backing legislation today to limit the size of a mortgage that could qualify for the

mortgage interest deduction. the bill comes from congressman ellison, democrat of minnesota. right now you can deduct the interest of mortgages up to a million dollars. his legislation would cut that to $500,000. you couldn't deduct the interest on the amount above that. now, the popular mortgage interest deduction is in the cross hairs as washington wrestles with tax reform and the budget. right now homeowners deduct about $100 billion in interest payments each year. proposals from the obama administration and some in congress would reduce that by perhaps capping itemized productions particularly for wealthier families by reducing the size of a mortgage eligible for the deduction. that's congressman ellison's legislation or eliminating the deduction for mortgages on second homes. as the housing market begins a fragile recovery, trade groups are fighting back. >> probably halfway as a housing industry to truly being a full

component of the national economy. for us we have an enormous room to grow and it would be a shame for us to pull back the biggest incentive for home ownership and home construction that's out there right now. >> home builders, realtors, mortgage lendsers are all ramping up lobbying efforts more as the budget fight progresses but some officials are bracing themselves for some limits on the deduction at some point. cheryl? cheryl: the fight is going to be a big one. americans love that mortgage interest deduction and we'll talk about it right now more with our guest. thank you very much. for more on this mortgage interest deduction debacle, i want to bring in david from the national association of home builders, chef economist there. i know you so well that i just call you david. that's terrible. i know we'll talk about home builder sentiment but first i want to talk about what our correspondent in washington was reporting on. you know, congressional leaders

once again want to go after the mortgage deduction. i know you hate it, you're going to fight it but are you worried what peter said is true, that something is going to change here? >> certainly we're worried. that's why we have pulled out all the stops. we've gotten our 140,000 members across the country to write to their individual representatives in washington that say what a bad idea this is. if, for instance, you were to reduce that cap from the current million dollars to $500,000, almost all of that pain would be on the coast. that's where the expensive homes are because it's expensive to live there and those people would be the ones that would bear most of the burden of reduced mortgage interest deduction from a cap like that. >> and that's why your group is looking at that and there are several states affected by that. let's get into the index. sentiment a big surprise and really not one that the market liked today. we saw another decline. second month we've had a decline in builder confidence but it's

not the usual suspects of the economy. what you're saying is credit, what you're seeing is land issues. what's the number one problem that builders are reporting? >> well, i think the number one problem is the access to credit for their borrowers, for people who want to buy a home. interest rates are very low but it really isn't the price of credit that's the problem. it's the access to credit so credit thresholds are still high and many are cast out of the potential for being a homeowner because they can't get a mortgage but we're seeing stresses just from the whole industry trying to rebuild itself. from the worst recession depression, really, in housing since the 1930's and it's going to take awhile for the industry to come back again and those stresses are starting to show. >> we're looking at the region that i think we saw weakness in what was the strongest section of the country, southeast and midwest. yet the northeast stayed unchanged at 39. none much these are great

numbers. we're still below 50. 44 for the overall index but on a regional basis, was there one particular area of the country that you think is a bigger problem? >> well, i think those places that have been increasing are exactly those pieces that are beginning to come up against these barriers so it's -- sometimes it's difficult to get land already approved and ready to build on. sometimes it's difficult to get labor because those workers have gone to other industries. sometimes it's more expensive to get building materials because a plant still hasn't opened up again to their full potential so it's beginning to affect the very places we were beginning to see a little bit of light. cheryl: and david, i want to look at the home building sector and look at the stocks as we go through kind of some of the story with the longer term charts we're showing the viewers. here is the issue and you mentioned that land problem. they've got problems developing land. infrastructure of the building economy was decimated during the

recession but some folks we follow, our viewers follow, had been incredible performers and i'm wondering if this is an overall sign that the builders themselves are going to face some tough times the next few months from an economic per spekt br spektive, of course, from you. >> yes. there will be some bumps along the road. i think that the optimistic attitude both the market and the home builders are showing is correct and i think it will continue. i expect to see a significant increase in housing starts this year. but along the way, we're going to see these detours, if you will, these little bumps in the road as we try to rebuild the whole sector. cheryl: david, always good to see you. you and jerry are always great to speak about what's happening with home builders and we're following the stocks. thank you. >> thanks. good to be here. cheryl: let's switch gears for a second and talk about commodities. gas hitting a 17-month high

today. we'll have bill and how you can cash in on the contract. big news today. and then tax pain. we kick off our week long series on what promises to be the most challenging tax season ever for many of you. scott from the tax foundation is here on your tax tips for 2012 and 2013. he's got a lot of great tips. ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ]

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>> it is amazing considered when we opened this morning there were concerns about china, cyprus and the euro zone and the markets were selling off about 100 points. you can see the dow sitting at 14,509 and virtually flat, just 4 1/2 points. nasdaq is also flat and s&p 500 lower. a significant improvement in the market over the few hours that we actually had been trading. don't forget we were hitting all-time highs and multi-year highs about every single day last week except for friday. for what we're seeing here on the big boards, the big index is up to the upside and that's accelerat accelerated. the dollar is very strong. the euro very weak and a four month low and the banks are the big story today and they're under serious pressure. j.p. morgan and bank of america have been the losers, on the dow and we're seeing financials here at home and abroad with red

arrows. uncertainty now surrounding cyprus and for the euro zone overall. back to you. >> they are. thank you. natural gas, talk about a 17 month high. not only that, we've rallied over 27% in a month. hedge funds have their longest they tell position and natural gas ever at this market is starting to explode. a lot of it has to do with the cold weather but there's something else going on today that i would like to point out and it's concerns about cyprus. when you look for a safe haven commodity on the energy complex, worried about a slowing economy in europe, oil will crash. usually natural gas gets the benefit because it's like a safe haven. on top of that, when you look at the natural gas market, power generators have gone to gas. they're not going back to coal, at least not for this year. why should they? they're going to get a lot of trouble from the e.p.a. so they're going to stick with gas towards the end of the year. other thing when we talk about natural gas, everybody is going to natural gas.

this could be the beginning of a major long term move and that is why the hedge funds are jumping in, in a big way. this could be a long-term position and gas, one that we really like and one that they're adding on to today. 17 month high. back to you. cheryl: and one that big energy companies throughout this country like a lot as well. thank you very much. time to make man. looking at stocks. i follow this company. >> you love this company. cheryl: i do. it's a great company. >> they're hiring people. >> they're hiring people and also the fact they're monetizing the cloud and they're building all cloud infrastructure. >> it is absolutely amazing company to your point. fourth quarter revenues up 25%. the margins expand a little bit. net revenue almost doubled year

over year. stocks got hammered. it's such a successful company and had been. it's not a cheap stock. having said that, though, this is a company that's done just about everything right. now, some downgraded the stock. i think it's down too much. look at that chart. high was over $80. near $50 right now. cheryl: on the one-year. >> so you can see the huge room, no room for error. i like it here using 49 as the stop loss. i will tell you, it's tough today in the rumors. today they're seeing i.b.m. is looking at the company. own if they don't, this stock is -- in my mind sold off a whole lot. over the next five years, wall street thinks it will grow 35% annually. it's a great company. cheryl: also headquartered in texas, one of the lower state

tax havens for many companies. they're not in silicon valley. they're in san antonio. >> see you later. cheryl: well, labor pains. president obama does pick a fight with the republicans. the battle over controversial choice for labor secretary ahead. and more pains. we're kicking off a week long series of tax tips coming up. ♪

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cheryl: we brought you breaks news. president obama picking a fight with republicans with his new choice for labor secretary. it could be a battle over the choice. >> now it's to the senate. he's president obama's pick to push the president's workplace priorities at the u.s. department of labor. he once was a secretary of labor for the state of maryland and most recently currently at the department of justice.

he's the head of the civil rights division. he'll continue to fight for fairness in the workplace. >> tom fought for a level playing field. working families can get ahead. >> i am confident that together with our partners and organized labor, the business community, grassroots communities, republicans, democrats and independents alike, we can keep making progress for all working families. >> the concerns that republicans have basically come from an inspector general's department at the department of justice calling the civil rights division as ideological polarized, inappropriate in many senses. many problems do date back to the bush administration saying that much of that is level unresolved. senator grassley saying that mr. perez was woefully unprepared to address the issues before the u.s. senate. this goes on to the senate help

committee. if he clears that to a full vote in the u.s. senate. cheryl: his resume does not add up to the qualifications needed for the position. this is going to be an interesting argument in washington. thank you very much. we'll keep you busy. well, is the situation in cyprus something more? advisers on the cyprus risk premium he expects to develop in the markets. he's going to be joining melissa and lori coming up at 1:00 p.m. coming up here, bar owe now, pay later. employees are rating the retirement account. tax pains. scott from the tax foundation is going to be joining me next as we kick off a week long series on what is sure to be painful. your tax appointment. we'll be right back. friday night, buddy.

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bottom of the hour, time for stocks now like every 15 minutes. nicole, you are watching jcpenney, stock is jumping, good news for a change for these guys. >> that's right. don't forget long term jcpenney has been under pressure the last 51 -- 52 weeks, we have -- up 9.5% at 1694 right now. a couple stories the the first is that isi is comments on jcpenney, and while they seem

that they were moving forward some serious financial problems, isi had another option saying they should isolate the top 300 locations and convert them into an entity, and that is, obviously, big money and the mover today. opco talking about the fresh shop and shock, that's a bright spot for jcpenney. >> thank you very much, appreciate it. six trillion hours, that is how long americans spend trying to comply with the tax code in effort to file the individual returns. all this week on the noon eastern time sthoa, we examine the tax pain that we all feel and getting more painful every year. kicking it off today on the problems of the tax code, and, also, what high income earners do with their money. scott hodge from the tax

foundation. i thought you would be a great person to kick off the series writing reports that examines the high wealth income earners of the country, and you are an advocate that we have to simplify the tax code. it's getting worse, scott. why are we in this situation we're in now? >> well, you're absolutely right, cheryl. we spend 6 billion a year complying and filling out the tax returns each year amounting to 33 -- 3 million people doing nothing other than tax returns for a year. that's equivalent to the amount of people in chicago. there's 21 tax provisions in the code that create complexity and there's the alternative minimum tax, the parallel system that affect people in the high income areas like new york, new jersey, california, and illinois. it's all of this sort of coming together that creates this enormous complexity that the taxpayer advocates at the irs

call thee most threatening thing for individual tax pay eres. >> scott, here's why i wanted to focus on this, because this year in particular, is different from any other year. what we file now is 2012. the fiscal cliff negotiations will not affect. we pretty much know what we'll get, but many individuals are going into their accountants' offices saying how am i going to deal with next year? this is small businesses, high income earners with nod idea how big the hit will be because many deductions are canceled, amt is permanent, and i didn't think it was inflation adjusted. what do you think the syringes are doing right now to -- individuals are doing right now to deal with the future who looks bleak? >> there's uncertainty, and a lot has to do with not just increases in tax rates, but it went from 35% to 39.6%, and the introduction on obamacare taxes which increased the medicare tax to 3.8%, and so that only

increased the rates to over 43%, and there's higher taxes, especially obamacare taxes, on nonwage earnings like capital gains and dividend that increases those rates to over 23%, and so now you figure out, do i take wage income or translate some of that income into capital gains or dividend income and save a lot because of the difference between those rates? there's a lot of game playing that has to go on, but a lot of the people do have that flexibility, and that gives them a greater advantage over a lot of other americans. cheryl: charitable deductions, that's a theme seen in the research is that what you do to bring down -- right now, you got -- say you're in the top bracket, but what you do is charitable donations. that's this year. this helps you for next year. we bring down the level, the tax bases by giving away $5,000 or $10,000 to charity.

is that one move you think that people could make now to save themselves from not jumping off the building next year? >> well, the chaifortble -- charitable deduction reduces the tax burden, but another complexity introduced on that fiscal cliff tax bill was the introduction of what we call the peas reduction eliminating state and local tax deductions and others will be limited. now go back to your accountant and figure out, well, if i -- if i do this deduction, will it be limited in a fashion? there's a tremendous amount of complexity that's going to hit, especially high income people going forward this year. cheryl: well, i mean, if you look at the numbers, getting into this throughout the series this week, that's it's amazing. 47% of americans barely pay taxes, if at all, and 70% of federal amounts collected is by 10% of the u.s. population, and

that is an imbalance to say the least i guess i want to say here. oh issue gorks issue thank you, producers. scott hodge, thank you very much. we'll dig into it all week. great to have you here. >> you bet, cheryl, thank you. cheryl: tomorrow, part two of the tax pain series brings in curtis. do you think the risk -- talked about this -- do you think they pay their fair share? that topic tomorrow with curtis at noon eastern time hour of "markets now," and paul ryan says we need two brackets. that was one idea last week. we'll talk about that later on in the week. employees raiding their retirement accounts at a frightening pace right now. only one in three say they took a hardship loan from their 401(k) last year. now, according to financial finesse, lower income and younger workers say they needed the money despite the improving job market. they come with very high fees, got to pay back retirement

account and keep working to do so as well. alarming figures from financial finesse. moving from 401(k)s to, staying on the tax thing, irs form 1040. how you can claim part of a billion dollars if the tax man has sitting in his escrow accounts right now. we'll talk about that. updating on what we brought to you friday, a new casino for the vegas strip. that story coming up in your west coast minute. as we go to break, the ten-year treasury, and what's happening in cypress has investors fleeing for the safety, yes, you heard me "safety," of the u.s. dollars.nouncer ]ow coul ♪ tina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south afra, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections

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cheryl: all right, apple, that's a stock for you. moving higher over the last week, good enough, but this company's stock lost 24% of the value over the next year. my next guest says apple, one of the top fives now, buying on the dip. senior portfolio manager is here. mike, you know, you like tech stocks. you say they are cheap. you like apple. fair enough. aren't you concerned about the pressure seen in apple, a 24% fall. >> well, it is, and it's already happened, so, to me, that's ad dpoo thing. i think in this market, in the

stage of the market rally we're in, i think you want it look for value, and when i look at large caps, i see a broad base of stocks that hold a lot of value, multiples are cheap, cash flow generation is strong, and i think business is going to start investing in tech, again to boost productivity. cheryl: i think you're right, but look at the tech spider, all tech, that's up 1% in the last year. pressure is apple, microsoft, your big cap. i wonder if the smaller tech names, the next generation of technology companies that we should be eyeing versus going after the big guys like apple and microsoft. >> well, i hear you when you say that, but i think apple holds a lot of value and i think my yo soft holds a lot of value. as corporate america starts spending, microsoft benefits. i think they pay strong dividends, are cheap, and go up another 10% from here.

at that point, it's a good return. they should should be looking t. cheryl: if i have a return on microsoft or apple, what is that this year, then? >> i don't think in terms of this year. i think in terms of looking forward, and if i get 10% in the next nine months, that's a very good return, especially with where the market is right now. i think apple corrected 24%. i think the proper thing to do is to look forward on apple. i think the shareholder base has changed. i think it's a growth company that's not through innovating. you'll see new products. you're going to see a cash distribution of some form, hopefully, in my per spect taif, they raise the diff depped. the stocks are cheap, not done, and they'll make you money going forward. cheryl: a lot of tablets in the stores of new york city, that's somewhat true, but what you don't like, the defense sector. you're not real hot on the defense sector. sequestering a part of the thinking here, but don't you

think with the beat down the defensive sector took, that could be a good bying opportunity? a wrong word from the leader of north korea, and it's game on for these guys. >> well, actually, i am fairly positive on defense sectorment sentiment and arguments and debates going on around defense cutting as part of the sequestering, i think that unjestly beaten down the defense sector, you're absolutely correct there, and in that sector, i like lockheed a lot. cheryl: do you? that's up 3% over the last year, so even though that short term hit last three months, overall performer. glad you stick with it. interesting. >> yeah, well, you know, in respect here, 3% is not a lot. lockheed is lagging quite a bit. i think it presents value in this market. i think the company's going to do fine. i think people forget that almost 20% of the business is internationally based, and that base is growing, and they have a 5% dividend to pay you while you

enjoy that value. cheryl: mike, i like the sector, the sectors you're looking at, mike. glad to have you back. thank you. >> thanks a lot. cheryl: all right. it's been 15 minutes. what do we do every 15 minutes? it's stocks now with nicole. she's back. all right. we're down 19. we were close, but you got stocks sitting at two week highs today. >> i sure do, cheryl. look at three names that are important to watch, else since they hit 52-week highs, and in some case, multiyear highs, all time highs. verizon's up 1 #.2% for the dow component hitting a 52-week high. keep an eye on the alcoholic beverage market, looking at constellation brands in particular up 2.7%, hitting a 52-week high, and 24 -- this is as constellation, the news is that ann -- anheiser-busch asked the federal court to allow time for settlement talk to resolve

antitrust lawsuits challenging the planned merger. good news for them then. all right, it's underway at least. bristol myers, a ten year chart, highest levels since 2002. in 1999, they were a $75 stock, but doing well today. cheryl: i like constellation with the global reach. nicole, thank you. and it's time for your west coast minute. business of vice stock update. of course i'm doing this. caesar's entertainment group planning a new hotel on the vegas strip. in a partnership with the group, they have 188 rooms, retail stores, 40 # ,000 square foot casino, restaurant, and more expected to open early next year. the stocks, caesars, the stock up 61 cents, a gain of 3.5%, hitting a new intraday high.

california counties may be cutting back on road repairs, library hours, police, we're told, but that's not stopping them from hiring expensive lobbyists to do their bidding. $96 million went to lobbyists in sacramento over two years, san bernardino county spent millions of dollars each for lobbyists, more than state labor unions, big oil companies, and other energy businesses spent. the spending revealed in a report from the california secretary of state. and santa barbara law enforcement discovered $4 # million worth of pot on the beach over the weekends. about 2,000 pounds wrapped in plastic bags found. it was next to an abandoned boat with 20-plus containers of fuel on board. they were going somewhere. no signs of the driver, but officials are doing a thorough investigation. this is the second discovery in the area this month. that is your west coast minute. all right, tax pain.

tax pain, everybody, tax pain for h and r block, the story of the mounts losses to turbo tax. we'll look at that coming up. as we go to break, look at the winners on the nasdaq. a rough market day across the board, but there are names to watch, and apple, just talked about that with mike, is the top name. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money.

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cheryl: as our week long series, tax pain for h&r block losing the ad bottle to turbo tax. they lose the battle in and out of court; correct? >> that's right, cheryl. after losing a false advertising case, they appear to lose an advertising battle against the company as well. asymmetrics revealed the top ten list for most effective tax ads in 2013, and turbotax is dominating. in fact, eight of the top ten ads belong to turbotax, and h&r block had just one. the rankings after a week the judge ruledded for the second time that tourbow tax can continue to air commercials like this one. >> hey. >> hey, honey. >> hey, allen. >> uh, hey? >> i'm bob, we talked at the tax store. i did your taxes.

>> i thought you were a tax expert. >> today, i'm a master plumber. >> they say there's nothing misleading about the ad and that the implication you could have someone do your taxes at h&r block that do you want have experience says all the things are true even though h&r block employees are trained. now david gordon of asymmetric says the ads released in the season focused on differentiations showing the firm's unique value proposition. as for ads mentioned, they complained about the attacking nature, hundreds of responses received showed more viewers didn't acknowledge it. back to you. cheryl: i can't help but wonder if h&r block has the last laugh. as the tax code changes, more and more have to go to an actual person because the software, the fear is the will not be up to date or give enough guidance on where to make changes.

>> there are people speculating that exact sing. i'm sure h and h&r block is hapy given what's going on now, but turbotax has cpas, tax attorneys, and 14 years of experience there to answer your questions. cheryl: it is a good commercial. diane, thank you very much. >> thank you. cheryl: all right. stocks off the session lows, dow down 18 points right now. are the fears about cypress overblown? not according to melissa and lori's guest coming up. he has a warning on the cypress risk premium and what he expects, get this, a run on banks. in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzm. never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people

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